Red Dot Films executed for the Ministry of Social Development and Family (MSDF) all the promotional films for the Waqitna (Our Time) PR campaign, which seeks to provide messages preparing the residents of Qatar for the 2022 World Cup event and urging them to adhere to good morals and hospitality.
The project consists of a general promotion, song, short film, and promotional series with media influencers and well-known sports personalities who impact society.
The campaign slogan is “Now is our turn.. Now is our time”. This intended role lies in adhering to tolerance for other cultures, showing traditions and generosity, and contributing to the success of organizing the tournament.
General Promotion
The campaign started with a minute-and-a-half general promotion referring to what most distinguishes the Qatari people and highlights a cast of various nationalities talking about Qatari culture, customs and traditions.
All scenes were filmed in the Sadou Luxury Camp in the Sealine area in southern Qatar, and the Qatari actor Abdulaziz Al-Durani was chosen as the main character leading the promotion sequence.
During the execution of the promotion, the administrative, editorial, and technical team was formed, most notably the Lebanese director Richard El Haddad and the director of photography, Moe Wehbe.
The Song
The project included a 4 minutes song including a patriotic aspect and a welcoming aspect for the World Cup guests coming to Qatar.
The song was written by the Yemeni lyricist, melodist, and singer Ahmed Amin, who perfectly mixed the Qatari dialect and classical Arabic. It was composed, arranged, and mixed at Coachnell Productions by the Qatari composer Abdulrahman Alriyami, and MSDF chose Ayil to perform it.
Red Dot took into account the campaign’s message by providing dramatic awareness scenes that indicate generosity, honesty, consideration and assistance to others.
Yousif Al Hamadi, executive director of the project, said, “Most of what will be produced for an event such as the World Cup is Musical videos, so the competition is strong, and standing out among the huge amount of songs will be a difficult task.”
“We succeeded in producing a distinctive product that highlights the culture and the type of music known in the Gulf region, celebrating the event, and far from the repeated Western music,” Al Hamadi added.
Promotional Series
Red Dot also produced awareness promotional videos, as messages targeting various ages and groups in Qatar from 16 well-known sports and media personalities.
The messages were not limited to Arabs only but also included other communities. For example, one of the promotions was in three languages, Hindi, Urdu and Malayalam, bearing in mind that these communities represent the vast majority of the population of Qatar.
Shadab Khan, General Director of Red Dot, said, “Waqitna campaign is a great initiative by the Government of Qatar to highlight Arab and Islamic culture and introduce the world to them in light of the constant distortion of Islam.”
Sa’adco Media
The most significant work in the Waqitna campaign was the short comedy film Sa’adco Media, directed by El Haddad and starring Saad Al Naimi.
The film’s plot is about Saad, who wants people to recognise him using traditional and digital media. Eventually, he understands that the best way to grab people’s attention is by showing good manners.
The film faced many changes until it reached its final form. The most noted one was reducing its duration to less than two minutes and twenty seconds so that the Ministry could post it on the Twitter platform. These changes led to the deletion of some scenes and the turning of the short film into an ad.
Shehnaz Mirza, the campaign’s senior producer, said, “The most difficult part the company faced was the lack of time, but fortunately, Red Dot was able to carry out all the work in record time, except Sa’adco Media”
Mirza added, “All promotional films were supposed to be broadcast before the World Cup, but the idea and treatment of Sadco Media was changed, which led to the late completion of the film and its failure to show it to the public.”
Red Dot was able to execute a range of films during the 2022 World Cup, most notably the promotional films of MSDF’s Waqitna PR campaign.
